The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) invites member states, regional and international organisations,and professional and non-governmental organisations working in the fieldof journalism and freedom of expression to nominate candidates for theUNESCO World Press Freedom Prize.

The US$25,000 award honours a journalist or organisation that has made anotable contribution to the defence and promotion of press freedomanywhere in the world, especially if this involved risk. The prize isawarded every year on World Press Freedom Day.

Organisations can nominate a maximum of three candidates. Self-nominationsare not accepted.

The deadline for application is January 31 2009.

Application Information

Click here [1]to download a nomination form in RTF format.

Click here [2]for more information.Previous Winners

Click here [3]for information on last year's winner.ContactProgramme for Freedom of Expression, Democracy and Peace

We made an official request to obtain the minutes of the cabinet meetingsand were told (and it has been proven to be correct) that the Jordaniangovernment doesn't take minutes of their sessions!!!! They only issue thedecisions and all cabinet memebers have to sign the decisions even if theyhad voted against it.

I was in Amman last week and on the 24th Feb. I met with the informationcommissioner and had a long interview with him. One of the question Iasked him was why the government refuse to reveal the reasons forrejecting the license for the nine radios. He said that the candidates whodid not get a license could use the access to information law to requestthat information and if the government refuses to give an answer theyshould complain to his office and then he will study that request with themembers of the Information Council. He said that it is bad that people donot use enough that law.

Muneera Shatti, left, and Asma Raja prepare to broadcast their programme.Salah Malkawi / The National

AMMAN //For the past year, Muneera Shatti and Asma Raja, two young women from the Jordan Valley, have broadcast a weekly radioshow that tackles the issues faced by their impoverished community, from alack of buses and the theft of water, to boys using mobile phones to takephotos of schoolgirls.

The work is not without challenges as the tribal-dominated valley on whichthey report is staunchly conservative and one of 20 pockets of povertywhere the average income is about US$1,800 (Dh6,624) per year.âœAt first there were men who refused to be interviewed by us. They wouldsay, â˜You are womenâ™. But they got used to us. Just last week Iinterviewed young men in a cafe to gauge their views regarding publicservices,â Ms Shatti said. âœInterviewing men is something I would havenever imagined myself doing before I became a correspondent for theradio.â

In one programme, Ms Shatti reported on the lack of buses connecting hertown with a nearby village. Within a week, the Jordan Valley Authorityresponded and provided the needed bus.âœThat was encouraging even though later the bus was taken away as otherbus drivers protested that it was affecting their business.â

In another broadcast, Ms Raja, 24, reported on water theft.

âœFarmers were stealing water from the main pipes, depriving residents ofdrinking water. I talked to a senior water official who promised toprovide citizens with another source of water while the government closedsome=20of the pipes to try to stop those from stealing. Since then, water thefthas declined.âBecause the women do not have a licence to broadcast in their community,Radio Al Balad, an Amman-based community radio, produces and hosts theirshow, called the Voice of the Valley.

The women take three buses to get to Amman to broadcast the show, but forthem, the trip is worth it.

Radio Al Balad has been pushing hard to get a licence to launch the firstall-women community radio in Jordan.

But last month, the government turned down the licence application withoutgiving a reason. The countryâ™s laws do not oblige the government toexplain why it rejects applications.The decision, however, has frustrated Daoud Kuttab, the founder of RadioAl Balad, who has been trying to launch Zaharat Alghor, the Flower of theValley, which would not broadcast news or political programmes.

âœWe were excited. It is a station run by women. It was supposed to be awomen empowerment station. We were already seeing success in the one-hourprogramme,â he said. âœIf the government did not want to give us alicence, then why entertain our application in the first place? It took usa year and a half to fulfil the requirements of the application, includingpaying $15,000 for the initiation licence fee. We rented offices [in theJordan Valley], too.âIn 2002, Jordan liberalised its airwaves and a year later created anaudiovisual commission tasked with licensing independent satellite andradio stations. Since then, 26 independent stations have been grantedlicences, most of whom provide music, entertainment and social programmes.Seven have licences for news and political programmes.

It is 50 per cent more expensive to get a licence for a news and politicalbroadcast because, according to insiders, the AVC believes the lattergenerates more advertisements, while sceptics see it as anotherrestriction on media freedom.It is the second time in two years that the government has rejected anapplication by Mr Kuttab for a community radio licence, raising somespeculation that the decision was motivated by personal reasons.

Conservative officials are concerned that community radio in a traditionalsociety could create problems among tribes and upset their social andcultural values.

Mr Kuttab has also been criticised for allowing Palestinian refugees fromGaza to make their plea for citizenship on his radio programmes. Jordansees such a policy as serving the interest of Israel because the refugeeswould then no longer be able to apply to return to Israel.Because Radio Al Balad is licensed to broadcast only in Amman, residentsin the Jordan Valley can only hear the programme by tuning into Al Qamrradio station in Jericho, a West Bank city on the other side of the JordanValley.

Mr Kuttab had signed an agreement with Al Qamr to rebroadcast the showuntil he was able to obtain a licence. The programme can also be heard online, but only 16 percent of Jordanian households have internet access.Mr Kuttab has made it clear in editorials and blogs that he is not happywith the AVCâ™s decision. But Hussein Bani Hani, the AVC head, argued thegovernment had acted in the interest of investors.

âœThe government wants to give a chance for every investor. We want togive equal opportunities to all,â he said. âœAll the governorates arecovered with radio stations, and we have community stations in severaluniversities that also provide training for university students on mediabroadcasting.âœThe stations tackle different subjects in different communities andbroadcast social programmes which vary from women and child issues toyouth issues. They are funded by organisations involved in mediadevelopment.â

Although the community radio stations have been welcomed in most areas,there are some criticism that they are not completely independent.

Ms Shatti and Ms Raja were discouraged at first by the governmentâ™sdecision not to grant them a licence. They closed the offices that RadioAl Balad had rented for them last week. But the women said they willcontinue to broadcast from Amman.âœI will not let the licence get me down. I will continue to work to makethe voices of people in remote areas heard,â Ms Raja said.

Creative-Radio is an independent forum for people active in or interested in the use of radio in development, in particular promoting public health, improved education, protection of the environment, improved livelihoods, good governance and conflict mitigation. Since it started in 1996, Creative-Radio has been in the forefront of radio's resurgence as a tool for social change and peace-building, and it helps promote best practice in these areas.